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Prices, Unit Values and Local Measurement Units in Rural Surveys: an Econometric Approach with an Application to Poverty Measurement in Ethiopia

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Author Info
Bart Capéau
Stefan Dercon

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Abstract

For many research problems in developing countries, some information on prices faced by households is required, for example if subsistence consumption is a substantial part of consumption. These prices are not readily available from household surveys, and at times they are not easily observed, for example if markets are thin and systematic price information can only be observed from markets some distance away from communities. Furthermore, quantities consumed and produced are often in local units presenting further problems for the analysis. We provide an econometric approach to estimate prices and quantity conversion factors from household expenditure data, using data from rural Ethiopia to illustrate the approach. In an application, we show that the conclusions about poverty changes over time are significantly affected by using alternative strategies to convert local units and to value subsistence consumption. We find in our case that mean unit values result in the overestimation of prices due to outliers and other sources of measurement error. Exogenous consumer price sources, often collected at larger markets outside the village, tend to give slightly lower values than our estimates. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Oxford University Press in its journal Journal of African Economies.

Volume (Year): 15 (2006)
Issue (Month): 2 (June)
Pages: 181-211
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Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:15:y:2006:i:2:p:181-211

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Deaton, A., 1990. "Price Elasticities From Surveys Data: Extensions And Indonesian Results," Papers 69, World Bank - Living Standards Measurement.
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  2. Deaton, Angus, 1988. "Quality, Quantity, and Spatial Variation of Price," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(3), pages 418-30, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Ravallion, Martin & Bidani, Benu, 1994. "How Robust Is a Poverty Profile?," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(1), pages 75-102, January.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Meng, Xin & Gregory, Robert & Wan, Guanghua, 2006. "China Urban Poverty and its Contributing Factors, 1986-2000," Working Papers RP2006/133, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
  2. Florence Kondylis, 2007. "Agricultural Outputs and Conflict Displacement: Evidence from a Policy Intervention in Rwanda," HiCN Working Papers 28, Households in Conflict Network. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-12-25.


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